How Ben Brode’s Blizzard connections and creative prototyping led to Marvel Snap’s revolutionary card game design
The Hearthstone Legacy and New Beginnings
Transitioning from Blizzard following Hearthstone’s monumental achievement represented merely the initial phase of Ben Brode’s creative expedition toward developing Marvel Snap.
Four years following Hearthstone’s worldwide deployment, Ben Brode—previously the director and prominent spokesperson for the development team—departed from Blizzard. Another four years later, his newly established studio introduced its first project, Marvel Snap. What facilitated this massive collaboration? How did an independent team achieve immediate success? Surprisingly, the foundation was laid using business cards from his previous workplace.
When Hearthstone emerged in 2014, it substantially transformed the digital Collectible Card Game landscape. Engaging visual presentation, compelling game mechanics, and Blizzard’s signature refinement propelled it to become one of the most prominent CCGs in Western markets.
After years of continuous updates, numerous expansion releases, and generating substantial revenue, what comes next after such a significant achievement? This exact question motivated Ben Brode in 2018 when he revealed his exit from Blizzard and established Second Dinner with several former Hearthstone developers.
Quickly, the team secured $30 million in financing from Chinese corporation NetEase and declared their inaugural project would involve collaboration with entertainment powerhouse Marvel.
All these developments occurred before the team had even established fundamental concepts about the game’s design, as Brode described during discussions with Dexerto.
Marvel Partnership Origins
Prior to Second Dinner’s establishment and well before Marvel Snap entered development, Brode collaborated with Jay Ong at Blizzard. During Hearthstone’s evolution from Beta to official release, Ong accepted a promising position at Marvel. He assumed leadership of Marvel Entertainment’s gaming division.
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“He developed an impressive strategic approach,” Brode explained, after being contacted by Ong shortly after his new appointment. “‘Let’s apply to Marvel Games what Marvel accomplished with [the MCU].’ Whenever a Marvel film releases, audiences feel compelled to watch because they anticipate quality. He proposed Marvel Games should emulate this pattern. Every Marvel game should deliver excellence.
The outcomes of this initiative have become evident in recent times, with titles like Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Spider-Man and Eidos-Montréal’s Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy elevating standards for fan expectations. However, Ong began exploring opportunities extensively starting in 2014. Among the groups he particularly wanted to partner with were his previous coworkers from the Hearthstone team.
“He contacted us stating ‘I’m confident your team can produce remarkable content. I’m interested in creating something extraordinary for mobile platforms. If you establish a new studio, I’d be delighted to collaborate and develop something impressive.'”
Within months, Brode and several colleagues left Blizzard, created Second Dinner, and accepted their associate’s proposal for a Marvel-focused mobile game. However, specific details about the game’s design remained undetermined at that stage.
Creative Development Process
“We explored various concepts,” Brode detailed, “and when we recognized ‘this Marvel project will proceed,’ we began applying Marvel themes to them.”
The team soon understood this method wouldn’t suffice: “We required constructing a game specifically designed as a Marvel experience, so we completely restarted.”
From this collaboration’s inception, Brode intended his team to create a mobile card game utilizing the Marvel intellectual property. Generally, this conceptualization phase can be exhausting. Which core mechanics warrant focus? What visual style should it adopt? How many participants per match? These considerations require substantial thought, but fortunately for the recently relocated team, they identified the Marvel Snap concept quicker than anticipated.
“We rapidly converged on [Snap]. Actually… the decision occurred remarkably fast,” Brode chuckled. “This represented our second conceptual approach. We thought ‘this seems too rapid, we should investigate alternatives for thoroughness.’ How frequently does the second idea prove optimal? Therefore we dedicated at minimum one week testing other concepts. That week felt interminable because we exclusively wanted to engage with [Snap].”
With the fundamental Snap gameplay concept rapidly crystallizing, the subsequent task involved designing compatible cards. This is where a collection of obsolete business cards from his former employer became invaluable.
“Previously, we created card games using my father’s business cards. When I began my gaming career, I received business cards and preserved them. I imagined someday I might develop a card game using them. When we commenced this project, I retrieved my business cards and constructed the original Marvel Snap prototype on my former Blizzard business cards.”
Brode displayed several of these cards, each roughly annotated with black marker. They contained all essential information visible on contemporary Marvel Snap characters: Cost, Power, card identifiers, and card capabilities. Remarkably, numerous these statistics and abilities remain relevant today, years after the conceptual stage.
Elektra persists as a 1 Cost | 1 Power card that eliminates an opponent’s 1-cost card. Captain America remains a 3 Cost | 3 Power card that provides +1 Power to adjacent cards at the same Location. Even Galactus continues unchanged from the original concept, annihilating two Locations when played alone at another site. Characters including Professor X, Gambit, Namor, and numerous others were conceptualized from development’s commencement, directly on outdated Blizzard stationery.
“The amusing aspect is this suggests minimal alterations occurred,” Brode noted, “while actually, significant changes transpired.”
Location System Evolution
Although the central ‘snapping’ concept existed, numerous foundational elements hadn’t materialized, despite several dozen cards being essentially finalized immediately. Elements ranging from “turn count” to “Location mechanics,” plus the Snap feature specifically, remained fluid as development progressed. “However, during this entire period, many cards maintained remarkable similarity.”
During Second Dinner’s early development phase, the expanding team constructed infrastructure while development advanced simultaneously. Card concepts continued evolving while essential framework components remained unestablished. Initially, for example, Locations operated quite distinct from current implementations, Brode clarified. Whereas currently each of three distinct Locations discloses sequentially across turns, this wasn’t always true. Actually, Locations “originally lacked abilities” entirely.
Subsequently, when customized effects were incorporated, all three Locations would disclose simultaneously on the initial turn. Regrettably, this approach proved “excessive,” the team rapidly concluded before changing direction again. During this phase, players needed to construct multiple decks—one containing cards and another for Locations. Essentially, each participant could affect the battlefield by pre-selecting advantageous board effects.
“Players assembled a 12-card hero or villain deck plus a Location deck. The Locations comprised one personal selection, one opponent selection, and one random selection. Consequently, matches exhibited reduced variability and significant imbalance. Specific strategies could access extremely powerful Locations while others couldn’t. The system proved considerably more complex.”
While reducing random elements and influencing Location appearance has become frequent community discussion topics, Brode and his team thoroughly tested this extensively in prior years and determined it’s simply “less enjoyable.
“A crucial enjoyment element in Marvel Snap involves encountering novel situations requiring creative solutions. When facing identical scenarios repeatedly, there’s diminished puzzle-solving, reduced improvisational thinking, and fewer problem-solving opportunities. Therefore I believe substantial variability there remains critically important.”
Pro Tip: When adapting existing game mechanics to new IPs, avoid simple reskinning—build systems that authentically represent the franchise’s core identity from the ground up.
Common Mistake: Many developers over-complicate location or environment systems early in development. Start with simple random systems and add complexity only when necessary for gameplay depth.
Launch Success and Future Vision
Regardless of perspective, Second Dinner undoubtedly carried substantial responsibility throughout Marvel Snap’s creation. Whether internal pressure from former Hearthstone team members aiming to surpass previous work, expectations from the new Marvel Games division supporting them, or simply investor monitoring, tension undoubtedly increased.
“I recall contemplating, what if it fails to entertain?” Brode confessed. “We’ll invest years developing this project and what if I guide us incorrectly?”
Having represented the Hearthstone team during its launch period, essentially personifying the developers in community videos, major event appearances, and leading content announcements, Brode possesses extensive experience handling such pressure. Should Marvel Snap have underperformed, he would largely shoulder that accountability. However, three weeks after global release, Marvel Snap has achieved the opposite.
“The launch has exceeded expectations,” he stated, displaying the characteristic Brode smile familiar to the CCG community. “In certain respects, launch symbolizes exhaling breath I’ve retained for four years.
“I maintain strong optimism so I felt reasonably confident. We’ve played it internally for years. We conduct playtesting weekly, sometimes biweekly. Therefore I believe we benefited from extensive time refining and polishing core gameplay, ensuring it felt excellent.”
Additionally, Brode maintained absolute confidence in his colleagues: “A game’s quality reflects the team creating it.
“We possess an extraordinary team. Our VFX artists excel at creating dynamic visual effects that emphasize character narratives. The engineering team developed an exceptional backend enabling massive game launch without server problems or downtime, which remains uncommon. We simply have a phenomenal team. Our primary principle involves establishing an environment people genuinely enjoy working within. Subsequent tasks become straightforward after achieving this.”
Second Dinner’s debut title rapidly ascended to peak positions on App Store and Google Play charts shortly after release, promptly confirming Brode and the broader team they pursued the correct direction throughout those years. However, as recognized in live-service environments, launch represents merely the commencement. Yet with Marvel Snap’s release condition and a developer dedicated to sustained success, potential appears limitless.
Optimization Tip: For live service games, invest heavily in backend infrastructure early—smooth launch experiences create lasting player trust and retention.
Team Building Insight: Prioritize creating a positive work environment above all else—technical excellence and creative innovation naturally follow when teams feel valued and motivated.
No reproduction without permission：SeeYouSoon Game Club » On the back of Blizzard business cards: Ben Brode details Marvel Snap’s unlikely genesis How Ben Brode's Blizzard connections and creative prototyping led to Marvel Snap's revolutionary card game design